Page 47 of Tiger's Destiny
Kishan grunted and kept moving. Ren wrapped his hand around my other arm, squeezed slightly, and said, “We’re going to be fine, Kells.”
“I just feel like the ash is choking me. It’s hard to breathe.”
“If it helps, have the Scarf make you a mask. Try not to think about it. Focus your eyes on Kishan’s over-developed biceps instead of the ash stirred up by your feet and take deep breaths.”
I snorted nervously. Kishan abruptly stopped. He frowned at Ren, then said to me, “We’ll go slower if you’re feeling tired.”
“I’m not tired. I’m just . . . what isthat?” I exclaimed and pointed at the rustling leaves.
Kishan spun around and with a deft movement threw thechakraminto the stunted trees. Thechakramsank into a gnarled trunk. We heard a terrified bleating as several animals clumsily leapt from the area, their hooves sinking into the sound-deadening ash. They moved away from the trees, leaping up the perilous sides of the caldera and disappearing over the top.
“Goats? How did goats get here?” I asked.
Ren answered, “I read that livestock animals were often left on the smaller islands in case a ship ran aground and the sailors needed something to eat. We may also see bats and small rodents.”
“Bats, goats, and rats, oh my.” If that was all we were going to encounter, I’d consider myself lucky.
We continued to climb the side of the volcano. I often slipped in the soft, pebbly, and ashy dirt and had to use my hands to scramble ahead when the incline became a bit steeper. The ash was warm, hot even at times. Grabbing onto tree roots didn’t help much as the roots either gave way or they broke apart into chunks. Kishan bulldozed ahead and often stretched out a hand to help me. Ren took up the rear and caught me twice when I slipped on the soft ground.
At the top, the view was amazing. It looked like we were standing on the broken lip of a large bowl. The caldera wall on either side was a thousand feet from the ocean surface. A slight breeze blew past, tickling my nose with the scent of the ocean mixed with the smell of wood smoke. Remnants of trees covered the rocky slopes, and I could even see bits of green peeking through here and there, but when my gaze slipped to the center of the caldera, I couldn’t help but shiver.
I estimated the basin of the volcano to be about two miles in diameter. While Ren and Kishan discussed the best place to descend, I took in the desolation. The terrain looked like the surface of an evil moon circling a hellish planet. Pockmarked, ripped, and raw, the blackened interior was a festering boil on what was otherwise a beautiful tropic ocean. I sipped some water, hoping to clear the dry dust from my throat.
“We’re going to make rope with the Divine Scarf and rappel down,” Ren explained the plan.
“Are you sure the entrance to the City of Light is down there?”
Kishan replied, “It’s not a big island, Kells. If it’s not down there, then we’ll search the island until we find it.”
All three of us put on gloves, and then Kishan secured various ropes around my body and the trunk of a thick tree. We were going to walk down the rock face, using a pulley system of ropes to keep us from going too fast.
“Don’t bounce. Don’t push off. Just walk down slowly. Ren will be below you on the same rope, and I’ll be right next to you. We won’t let you fall. Ready?” Kishan asked calmly.
I was about as ready to rappel down a cliff as I was to stick my hand in lava.
Ren gripped his rope, let his body fall back, and disappeared. I cautiously peeked over the edge and found him a few feet below us, his feet braced on the rock wall. He looked up at me and said gently, “Come on, Kells. I’m right here.”
Shaking and nervous, I moved into position and took hold of my ropes. At first I was alright and Kishan kept pace with me as I crept down the hill like a grandma on roller skates. Then when the rock face dipped in, leaving my feet dangling in the air, I panicked and lurched frantically, crying out. Twisting the rope, I spun in a circle, but Kishan caught me and straightened out my rope while I wrapped a leg around his desperately.
He smiled and said, “You’re alright,bilauta. Loosen your grip and slide down to where Ren is.”
I twisted my leg, letting him go, and he swung slightly away. I looked up and felt sick. I looked down and felt sicker. Swallowing, I let the rope slide through my fingers and went down quickly, only stopping when I finally felt solid rock against my feet again. Though we still descended in slow motion, we made it to the bottom without further incident. My hands shook, and my legs felt like Jell-O as I numbly let Ren remove the ropes from my body.
We left the ropes dangling and headed for the center of the caldera. The ash had been replaced with shiny black lobes that stretched toward us like knobby fingers. Ren tested the cooled crust by walking out a few paces. Declaring it safe, he followed a crooked tentacle, and Kishan and I joined him.
The hike across the barren surface was sluggish and complicated due to the boulders of massive rock that often barred our path. Giant cannonball stones had collided with the ropes of dried lava and shattered it, creating bizarre shapes with jagged, barbed surfaces in the crust. In other places, the lava had covered rocks as large as ten feet in diameter, like gritty fondant over a cake.
Occasionally, we stepped onto some of the charred bubbles, which burst into powdery granules. Sulfurous vapors rose from thin cracks. When Kishan’s boot broke through the black crust in one spot, scalding steam blasted out of the hole and burned the skin on his arm.
Seeing my concerned expression, Kishan flashed me a reassuring smile. He tapped thekamandalhidden beneath his shirt.
“We’ll heal, Kells, and if something happens to you, we’ll use the mermaid’s elixir.”
I nodded and plodded ahead, wondering if the elixir was powerful enough to heal me after lava melted off my face. I used the Pearl Necklace to fill canteens of water, and we drank as much as we could. We continued on, and it wasn’t long before we came to a large hole that glowed with a faint light.
Ren crouched down to peer in. “It’s a lava tube. Probably an active one.”
“So lava will come spurting out of there?” I asked.
